The xpac test this weekend was, in my experience, a sad gank fest. I tried to struggle out from the constant attacks to see what had actually been added to the game, but wasn't able to. From literally the second I logged in I was forced to contend with roving gangs of gankers against whom a single player had no chance.

I uninstalled. I'm sure some people like that sort of grief based PvP. I'm just not one of them.

I've been reading Blue's since somewhere around Doom 2, but I don't recall exactly when the community went from like-minded gamers excited about the industry to a bunch of kids looking for an excuse to bitch about everything that gets printed.

I gotta stop reading these comments.

(edit) Maybe it was Quake. I don't remember. Long time ago. Probably before half of you were born, come to think of it.

This last patch was surprisingly sloppy for Valve. Glad they fixed it all quickly (but OK, I admit, last night's Sentry Wars was fun for a little while).

I think I see what they're doing with the Backburner. The recent change to the air blast helps solidify the Flamethrower as a defensive weapon. Now the buff on damage for the Backburner helps solidify it as an offensive weapon. Valve wants you to pick one or the other.

Prez wrote on Mar 1, 2010, 11:43:Assassins Creed 2 is uncomfortably high on that list for my tastes. My suspicion is that many of these pre-orders are by people unaware of Ubisoft's new DRM scheme.

I think it is people who misguidedly think that the release of the game on Steam will only have Steam's DRM and not also Ubisoft's new DRM.

I sincerely doubt that most people even know what DRM is or, if they do, give a goddamn about it.

I assure you that publishers have researched this in the finest detail and have determined that what they save by using DRM vastly outweighs what they lose through the nerd rage against it. Gaming is a massive business these days, and accordingly, every dollar exchanged is scrutinized.

Not to interrupt the "I can't afford this so it sucks" flame war, but I have a couple of actual observations after about 4 hours of play last night.

I think a lot of us were hoping this would be to Bioshock what Half Life 2 was to its original, and its not. But that doesn't mean its a bad game, just one a bit less inspired than its predecessor. Less than masterpiece can still be good.

Surprisingly, though, it kinda limps out of the gate. The opening sequence of the original was a classic, and the sequel is going to have issues establishing that same cred at the beginning. I see a lot of "I played for half an hour and it sucks." I can see why. It didn't grab me at first, either. Felt a little shallow, like a third party developer had been given the IP and didn't quite know how to capture the magic.

But by about the third zone it starts to take shape, and gets much more engaging. Rapture is actually quite a bit more detailed in this than in the original. The environment design better reflects its history, and its minute details tell a good secondary story (that occasionally rewards you for paying attention with hints and tips).

A very noticeable failure, however, is the execution of underwater segments. It just plain doesn't work relies on outdated visual tricks. This was a hugely lost opportunity.

Haven't tried MP yet. Not really that interested in it. That may change when I finish SP, we'll see.

So jury's still out, but with lights off and 5.1 cranked, I was deeply immersed and I'm looking forward to going back tonight.

NKD wrote on Jan 27, 2010, 15:26:I would say those are the two things I miss the least. Cumbersome, time consuming, and pointless unless you were the best crafter of at least one type of item on your server. There was no reason to buy from anyone else.

Spending hours moving your harvesters around was a pain in the ass, and to be serious about crafting you had to have access to the lots on multiple accounts.

Personally, I agree with you completely. But that said, for people who enjoy "crafting" in video games (and it appears there actually are people out there that enjoy that sort of thing), SWG is still the finest implementation of a crafting system yet written.

"Original version" is quite misleading. There were several AvP games released long before this one, most notably the Jaguar version already mentioned here -- which is still one of my all time great gaming experiences.

Ant wrote on Jan 12, 2010, 15:23:Ugh, the BitTorrent one is not doing much. I downloaded 2.1 MB so far!

I jumped to bit torrent and after a slow start I'm averaging about 10 mbps. And since I"m on a dedicated 50 Mbps pipe, I'm uploading at more than a 3-1 ratio as well to help others. I have about 20 mbps going out right now. Hope some is you.

I don't get it. Why does everyone assume that since the original developer tanked that the IP is dead? Its one of the most successful games ever published. OF COURSE its going to get made. Its cash in the bank for the publisher.

If someone gives you a Benz, you drive the fucking thing, you don't trash it just because the old owner couldn't figure out how to start it.

What you should be wondering is, will it completely suck when it gets released without 3DRealms?

1) He blew his own fortune on this thing. He obviously believed in what he was doing.

2) He knew that after about 1999, if he released anything other than the most dramatically impressive game ever produced, he would be savaged in the industry and would have lost everything, including fortune and reputation. That's a lot of pressure.

I manage multi-million dollar projects, too. I understand the pressures. I think the tragic flaw here was his inability to say "OK, this is where we can stop and go live." Its a tricky spot, and the game industry is especially fickle about it.

On another angle, I'm a little disappointed there isn't more news in this story. George chased the newest carrot until the donkey died? I pretty much already figured that out for myself.